Wright, Loveridge lead No. 13 Utah over Washington St. 67-59

Brandon Taylor added 11 points for Utah (23-6, 13-4 Pacific 12), which closed the game with a 26-11 run to remain second in the Pacific-12.

DaVonte Lacy scored 16 points for Washington State (12-17, 6-11)

Utah, coming off a loss to No. 5 Arizona, shot just 40 percent from the floor. But it won the rebound battle 37-26.

The game was tied at 23 at halftime, and Washington State hit three 3-pointers to take a 32-26 lead early in the second half.

Utah came back, but an 8-1 run put Washington State up 40-32. It got within three points, but Washington State scored four unanswered points to push the lead back to 48-41.

But the Cougars went cold just as the Utes heated up.

Two 3-pointers by Taylor and one by Loveridge highlighted a 12-2 run that put the Utes ahead 53-50 with five minutes left.

Loveridge scored and Wright hit four straight free throws to push Utah’s lead to 59-52 with 2:21 left.

Lacy sank three free throws to bring Washington State to within 62-57 with 51 seconds left.

But the Cougars were forced to foul and could not close the gap.

Neither team could generate much offense in the early going, as WSU led 9-4 after seven minutes. Utah made just two of its first 10 shots.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Wright and Loveridge put the Utes up 12-11 at the 10-minute mark.

The teams traded baskets, and a couple of stuffs by Jordan Railey gave the Cougars a 19-17 lead.

Utah shot just 30 percent in the first half, while Washington State shot 40 percent.

TIP-INS

Utah: Utes are beating Pac-12 opponents by an average of 23.4 points … Has not allowed an opponent to score more than 72 points this season … Utah is eighth in the nation in scoring defense at 55.8 points per game, and allows opponents to shoot only 37.5 percent.

Washington State: The Cougars trail the all-time series 17-4 … Washington State is 48-223 all-time versus Top 25 opponents … DaVonte Lacy is the only Cougar to start all games this season … Josh Hawkinson leads the Pac-12 with 18 double-doubles this season … Lacy surpassed Klay Thompson in the previous game to become WSU’s career 3-point leader.